sidebar
Logo Top Banner
Home
slogan Alaska Timeline Alaska Kids About
Peer Work
Family & Community
History & Culture
Digital Archives
Narrative & Healing
Reading & Writing
Libraries & Booksellers
Teaching & Learning
Reading Workbooks

Writing Workbooks

Two Old Women

Difficult Dialogues

Ordinary Wolves

Discussion Questions

Author Talking

Links

Shopping for Porcupine

UAA and APU Books of the Year

Educators' Perspectives

Contact Us

  Search Litsite Alaska
Find us on Facebook

Teaching and Learning

Home  >  Teaching and Learning  >  Ordinary Wolves  >  Discussion Questions
Chapter 1

Chapter Summary:  Cutuk, Jerry, and Iris Hawcly prepare the sod-igloo for a visitor, Enuk Wolfglove. Abe is too generous to visitors. Enuk shares his hunting stories and the young Cutuk dreams of being a respected hunter like Enuk.

Discussion Questions:

Why does Abe tell the children to "hide the vanilla" at signs of a traveler? (p. 9)

Points to Consider:

  • Vanilla contains alcohol. Alcohol is scarce, but abused in the area, and Abe doesn't want to tempt a visitor to steal their vanilla.

Why does Cutuk want so desperately to be like Enuk when he grows up? (p. 10)

Points to Consider:

  • Cutuk finds the old hunter mystical and fascinating.
  • He respects the old man's hunting abilities.

How have the Hawcly children dealt with the disappearance of their mother?

Points to Consider:

  • Iris has taken over the role of mother, and Jerry and Cutuk share many of the chores.
  • The children seem to manage the household duties of cleaning and cooking.

What actions of Abe's bother Cutuk?

Points to Consider:

  • Abe is generous to a fault. He shares the family's caribou meat and money. Cutuk is mad that Abe gives Woodrow the fifty dollars, but he's angrier that Woodrow didn't spend the night or bring their mail.

Why is Cutuk so critical about his Caucasian features?

Points to Consider:

  • His blond hair and blue eyes are constant reminders that he isn't Eskimo and will never be. He's constantly aware of being white and an outsider.


sidebar
  Contact Us       LitSite Alaska, Copyright © 2000 - 2024. All rights reserved. UAA / University of Alaska Anchorage.
University of Alaska Anchorage